In order to access certain valuable ores and other resources underground, it is to often required to first prepare a mine or passage, or some type of underground passageway through rock in order to reach the specific ore to be recovered.
To make the ceiling and the walls of the mine or underground tunnel safe for access, so that further drilling can take place beyond the mine into the ore that has to be resourced, rock bolts and associated pressure plates are used to reinforce the rock.
Conventionally these rock bolts are fixed into the rock that needs to be reinforced by a rock bolter that utilizes a main drill, that bores a bolt hole into the virgin or unsupported rock. The same equipment responsible for boring the bolt hole normally also provides for a bolt driver that is able to insert a bolt into the hole after the drill steel that drills the bore has been removed.
Nonetheless, problems have arisen by simply forcing the bolt into a hole and subsequently securing the bolt with a pressure plate thereto when installing the rock bolt.
The rock where the bolt has been inserted often contains highly corrosive, acidic or salt filled fluids which easily attack the bolt loosening its effect substantially as a reinforcement.
To overcome this problem a new method was created for performing rock bolting whereby a cementing agent is fed into the drill hole that has been drilled into the rock, where upon thereafter a bolt or equivalent is fitted into the drill hole for supporting the rock.
Nonetheless, such methods present further problems, mainly because the hardening of the concrete is relatively slow, and consequently the bolt must be secured into the hole by some mechanical means until the concrete is hardened sufficiently to keep the bolt in the hole. Fortunately however, more recent methods for performing rock bolting have introduced more rapidly hardening adhesives and the like particularly synthetic resins.
When a bolt is to be held in place by resin, the rock bolter drills the bolt hole and is thereafter a resin sausage is placed in the bolt hole. In some instances a series of resin sausages can be inserted. Advantageously, the film or the like enclosing the resin sausage ruptures once the bolt has been inserted into the bolt hole, with this impact allowing the resin to undergo chemical transformation so that bonding can take place between the bolt and the rock.
Presently, to insert these resin sausages into the drilled hole before the bolt is inserted for securing, a reinforced type plastic nozzle hose or guard is used in conjunction with the equipment that provides the drilling of the bore to which the bolt can be driven into.
As one would expect to avoid premature rupturing of the resin sausages, it is necessary to align the resin sausage with the drilled hole prior to insert said sausages into said hole.
Conventionally, to insert the resin sausage, these reinforced plastic type resin nozzles must be moved into alignment with the bolt hole after the hole has been bored by the drill from some distance from the hole itself.
For example, traditional equipment for boring a bolt hole will have an operator operating a drill whose actual impact tip could be at least 10-15 feet away from the operating location.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciate given the operator is at a considerable distance from that location to which the nozzle needs to be aligned, if the sausage is to be inserted correctly into the hole without rupturing, means that the task will be particularly time consuming, difficult and cumbersome.
As is to be expected reinforced plastic though offering some type of resiliency, would still be considered delicate material in the very hard operating conditions of an underground mine tunnel way. The operator who needs to align this plastic nozzle needs to take great care to correctly locate the hole, otherwise damage to the nozzle will be an obvious result.
Once the nozzle becomes damaged, it will no longer be possible to accurately shoot or insert the sausages there through the nozzle correctly into the bolt hole.
If the nozzle becomes damaged the operator will then need to access to the site of the hole, which can present safety risks and/or can delay the bolt setting operation.
This problem becomes even further apparent when the rock bolting system for reinforcing the ceiling or walls of the mine also includes meshing.
Again, as the person skilled in the art will appreciate the meshing provides additional security for those operating in the passageway to which rock bolting has been completed.
However, the introduction of the meshing during the reinforcement of the rock, makes it even more difficult to appropriately align the nozzle with the drill hole so that the resin can be inserted.
The reason being is that the mesh will be of a certain dimension and consequently will provide a passage which will not necessarily overlap directly with the hole, which means the nozzle has to be inserted at an angle or at some type of incline which can provide for an opportunity of kinking or damaging of the nozzle, which as explained above if such damage is created, the nozzle itself becomes unsuitable for further use, and therefore must be replaced.
Therefore, there remains a need in the relevant art for a device for installing resin bolts into the ceiling and walls of a mine, which can utilize a resin nozzle that has greater efficiency and ease of use for an operator who needs to operate the equipment from some distance to which the resin nozzle needs to be aligned, and also is often subjected to aligning the nozzle into a drilled hole that has also already been covered at least part thereover by meshing type equipment.
Consequently an object of this invention is to provide for a resin nozzle for injecting a resin sausage into a pre drilled bolt hole of which overcomes the introduced problems and shortcomings above.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a complete reading of this document.